My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 72 Zang Ba's Sorrow [35 Reads Please Continue!]

As mentioned before, Zang Ai was not a spoiled brat; on the contrary, he was a talented, knowledgeable, and capable second-generation heir.

Therefore, he could see that this method could indeed solve the Zang family's urgent problem and also benefit the Mi family.
In this way, both sides can benefit, just like the win-win situation that Mi Feng mentioned.

Although Zang Ai was clearly tempted, in the end, she couldn't make a decision.

"This matter is of great importance, and we must report it to my father and ask him to make a decision."

Liu Feng and his companion had no objection to Zang Ai's attitude.

After agreeing to meet again, Zang Ai disregarded the banquet and immediately got up to take his leave.

After leaving the inn, Zang Ai lost all interest in continuing her work and decided to go straight home.

Upon arriving home and confirming that her father was at home, Zang Ai went directly to pay her respects.

Zang Ba was very fond of his son Zang Ai, often boasting that he, a warrior, had fathered a Confucian scholar.

It's a pity that in this day and age, there are no longer any channels for powerful and wealthy people from humble backgrounds to rise in society, and the status of Zang Ai as a scholar is not necessarily recognized by the gentry.

Even if Zang Ai studied a lot, without famous teachers, classmates, or learned families to help him make a name for himself, he would still just be a son of a powerful family.

Zang Ba was currently in his study, deep in thought.

Gongsun Du's horse-buying channel is not easy to access. If the transaction fails this time and the connection is broken, then there will be no more channels to buy horses.

Zang Ba had already plundered every place he could find and borrowed a lot of money, but he still couldn't raise enough.

During the Han Dynasty, the land tax was one-thirtieth of the total tax. However, this only applied to the land tax, meaning that you had to pay a grain tax on the grain you grew.

Later generations mostly thought that the tax rate in the Han Dynasty was very low, only 3.3%, but this is an extremely serious misjudgment.

Because in addition to land tax, there are a large number of other taxes.

This includes, but is not limited to, a per-mu tax of 10 qian (a unit of currency), payable one to four times a year, entirely depending on the conscience of local officials.

The poll tax was levied on the number of adults in a family, but whether you were an adult or not depended on the conscience of the local officials.

If you have no conscience, even if your five-year-old looks like you're fifteen, people in your family who have been dead for years are still on the government's tax books, so they still have to pay money.

The poll tax was quite unique; theoretically, it was a poll tax paid by minors. In order to show compassion for the people, Han emperors would reduce or exempt this type of tax.

But in reality, many minors don't get to enjoy this benefit at all. Isn't that surprising?
This surprise stemmed from the belief among the lower-ranking officials and powerful families of the Han Dynasty that His Majesty had no right to deprive his children of the honor of paying taxes.

As for other taxes such as corvée labor, corvée duty, mulberry and farm taxes, and residence taxes.

It can only be said that the Eastern Han Dynasty was not fundamentally different from the subsequent dynasties; it was also a country that lasted for ten thousand years.

The claim that Cao Wei was able to collect 80-90% of farmers' income from taxes included miscellaneous taxes. If land taxes alone accounted for 80-90%, then Cao Wei officials would all be necromancers, relying on the dead to farm.

After all, if you include miscellaneous taxes, you'll still owe the government after paying all the output, so you can't work for nothing to pay off the debt.

What Cao Wei truly oppressed the people most severely was the excessively high land tax. Their land tax often exceeded 50%, yet even so, the common people still lived better than the military households.

Therefore, in the later period of Cao Wei, they could only rely on the central army to fight, and the military households and soldiers of the commanderies and kingdoms became increasingly incompetent, a situation that was perfectly inherited and replicated by the Jin Dynasty.

As a respected local strongman and warlord during the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Zang Ba felt he still had a conscience.

Because of these miscellaneous taxes, he only received them for the year after next.

Zang Ba felt that the money was enough to support the army, and there was no need to expand it in the short term, so there was no need to continue exploiting the people.

People are suffering too much these days. It's good to give them a break. After all, even when you're harvesting crops, you need to let them recover.

But now, Zang Ba, who was short of money, began to think about whether he should temporarily collect the miscellaneous taxes for the year after next and the year after that ahead of time.
Kaiyang is a very prosperous place and has never experienced war. In the past two years, the weather has been favorable and the fields have been irrigated by the Yi River, so most people have some savings.

Even if it costs an extra year or two in taxes, it's still manageable. After all, if I hadn't risked my life to defeat the Yellow Turban Army, Kaiyang would have been destroyed long ago.

Zang Ba couldn't help but sigh again; he also wanted the people under his rule to have a better life.

But these days, horses are too expensive, especially warhorses, whose prices have skyrocketed.

If you want to buy less, Gongsun Du definitely won't be interested.

Why would a powerful warlord who controls half of Liaodong talk to you about a small business deal involving a few dozen warhorses?

You should know that he had a hard time negotiating these 100 horses.

The other party originally wouldn't negotiate the price if it was less than two hundred horses.

It's already late January, and considering the travel time, the money should be delivered by mid-February at the latest.

This means the horses will set off in the spring. If it's delayed until summer, the hot and humid weather will make the horses more susceptible to illness, resulting in huge losses.

Just as Zang Ba was feeling anxious and hesitant, his eldest son Zang Ai returned and came specifically to see him.

Zang Ba composed himself and called his son into the study.

When Zang Ai entered, he reeked of alcohol, clearly having gone to a banquet.

Moreover, he didn't even wash or groom himself after returning, which is extremely rare for a gentleman like Zang Ai who upholds propriety.

After Zang Ai entered, disregarding any potential rudeness, he first recounted the suggestion the other party had made at the Mi family banquet.

As Zang Ba listened, his eyes narrowed.

He began to calculate silently in his mind.

If the Mi family is trustworthy, then this truly is a win-win deal.

Mi Jia took his grain to Liu Bei to claim credit and reward, and then he used the money Mi Jia gave him to buy horses.

Then the Mi family would go to the surrounding areas to buy grain, and then transport it to Kaiyang to sell it back to him at a fair price.

Zang Ba and Zang Ai had the same reaction. At first, their eyes lit up, thinking it was a good idea, but after calming down, they also discovered a lot of risks.

The biggest risk is whether the Mi family can repay the grain on time.

If Liu Bei wanted to establish military farms, then grain would be indispensable, at least tens of thousands of shi (a unit of dry measure), or even more than one hundred thousand shi.

Things are not like they were when Tao Gong was alive. Back then, the Xuzhou prefectural granaries still had grain stored up from previous years, and the granaries also had plenty of money.

Liu Bei was penniless and inherited a mess. His government granaries and granaries were empty. If he wanted to establish military farms, he would have to rely almost entirely on the Mi family and powerful clans to foot the bill.

Therefore, Zang Ba had no doubts about the Mi family's request to buy grain.

Because it's reasonable and quite common.

Zang Ba and Zang Ai's biggest concern was whether the Mi family could repay the grain in time.

Thank you so much to the generous patron, AD1!
I am truly grateful! Thank you so much for your support. This is the first "Alliance Master" for this book, and the old man is so excited that he's almost incoherent.

In short, thank you so much. There will be a special bonus chapter after it's published. Thank you, AD1!

Also, thanks to Luo Shiying, He Wen, Bùdòng Bānshǒu, Luàn Tán Qīng Luàn Tīng, Shū Zhēn Wǒng (2 votes), Huāi Gu Sō (2 votes), Shūyǒu 20220507214053338, and Ruò Chǔ Jiān Xīn Wèi Nǐ (2 votes).

獬豸狴犴, Book Friend 20210803071608051, and Mo Jin'an 2 votes.

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(End of this chapter)